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Policy Proposal 2003-9: WHOIS Acceptable Use Policy

Posted: Wed, 04 Jun 2003

ARIN welcomes feedback and discussion about the following policy proposal. This policy was originally proposed in the weeks leading up to the ARIN Public Policy meeting held in Memphis, Tennessee, April 7-8, 2003. As a result of the discussions that occurred on the public policy mailing list and at the meeting, the ARIN Advisory Council decided to recommend to the ARIN Board of Trustees that the proposed policy be abandoned in its present form and that a new policy effort be undertaken. In the weeks following the Public Policy meeting, the ARIN AC further discussed this policy and noted the discussion that took place on the public policy list. It was noted that with wording changes that had been suggested, this policy should be discussed further. During the week of May 28, the Chair of the AC contacted the author of the original proposal and discussed this possibility with him. They agreed that this would be a good solution. Accordingly, the AC has voted to recommend that this proposal be further discussed.

This policy proposal discussion will take place on the ARIN Public Policy Mailing List (ppml@arin.net). Subscription information is available at http://www.arin.net/mailing_lists/index.html.

This proposal obsoletes current bulk WHOIS policy 2002-4 and changes current Bulk WHOIS Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) to become general WHOIS Acceptable Use policy that would apply to all WHOIS queries. In particular:

1. An acceptable use policy called "WHOIS Acceptable Use Policy" is to be published on ARIN website as follows:

"ARIN WHOIS Data is for Internet operations and technical research purposes pertaining to Internet Operations only. It may not be used for advertising, direct marketing, marketing research or similar purposes. Use of ARIN WHOIS data for these activities is explicitly forbidden. ARIN requests to be notified of any such activities or suspicions thereof.

Redistributing ARIN WHOIS Data is explicitly forbidden. It is permissible to publish data on an individual query or small number of queries at a time basis as long as reasonable precautions are taken to prevent automated querying by database harvesters. ARIN reserves the right to restrict access to the WHOIS database in its sole discretion to ensure operational stability.

ARIN may restrict or terminate your access to the WHOIS database for failure to abide by these terms of use."

2. Automated Internet-based access to WHOIS data with individual queries (such as by using WHOIS protocol) will include a one-line statement that data is provided and can only be used according to 'ARIN WHOIS Acceptable Use Policy' with a link to where the policy is published on ARIN website, all other access to WHOIS data must include entire ARIN WHOIS AUP.

3. A policy for bulk WHOIS access will be published on ARIN website as follows:

"Access to the entire WHOIS database or large portion of it may be obtained by any organization or individual provided that this organization or individual agrees in writing to ARIN WHOIS Acceptable Use Policy. WHOIS data provided under bulk WHOIS access will not include any information that is marked as private.

Access to WHOIS data may be by way of:

Individual WHOIS queries

FTP or other type of download

Hard media distribution (such as CDROM)

Access provided by means of the public Internet must require authentication if the protocol being used supports it. ARIN may request authentication information be changed on a regular basis for those who desire repeat access to the bulk data. Bulk WHOIS requests for CDROM or similar hard media delivery must be filled and signed individually for each request and ARIN may charge an appropriate fee to cover media and labor costs."

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